Sport fishermen often find it advantageous to use live bait as well as artificial lures for successful angling. Live bait containers are designed to maintain the bait in a lively, healthy condition for optimum results. These containers generally have numerous small openings or holes to facilitate the constant free exchange of container water with outside fresh water in order to maintain a relatively constant water temperature and to renew the oxygen as it is gradually used by the bait inside of the container. Live bait containers for aquatic organisms, such as minnows, leaches, and crawfish are usually designed with sufficient buoyancy to remain afloat at the water surface with the major portion of the container submerged in order to provide ready access to the bait while keeping the bait submerged below the water surface. This allows the exchange of water between the water inside of the container and the lake or river water outside of the container, thus keeping the bait alive. A live bait container or “minnow bucket” is also generally configured to facilitate floating behind or alongside a boat with its access opening facing upward to allow easy access to the bait while trolling.
Most of these floating live bait containers have a major disadvantage. There are many situations when it is desirable to completely submerge the container well below the water surface for long periods of time between fishing activities in order to remove the container from the buffeting action of large waves and the wake from boat traffic. This buffeting action is harmful to and damaging to be bait. The bait container may be tethered to a dock or stationery boat for stowage for long intervals between periods of fishing. During these intervals, there will be considerably less injury to the bait if the container is submerged well below the buffeting action of the waves. Because the amount of floatation is generally not adjustable, fishermen sometimes make-do by gathering some rocks or other dense material to place inside of the container to completely submerge it. Then, when fishing resumes, the rocks are removed so the container can resume floating in its normal orientation to provide easy access to the bait while fishing. Another advantage of stowing the container below the water surface is that the temperature and oxygen levels below the water surface are usually better than the surface conditions for maintaining the health and viability of the bait. Water below the surface is typically cooler and has higher oxygen content than surface water.
In order to overcome this disadvantage and allow the bait container to be selectively submerged, Sykes U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,204 discloses a minnow bucket having air chambers, each air chamber comprising two holes, and each hole having a matching stopper or plug. These plugs can be temporarily removed to allow filling the air chambers with water or dense material to increase the density of the bucket and allow it to sink below the water surface where the water temperature and oxygen level are more conducive to maintaining the live bait in a lively, healthy condition, and where the bait is not subject to injury from the buffeting action of the surface waves. The disadvantage in this arrangement is that two openings, each having a plug or stopcock are required for each air chamber. While this method of temporarily increasing the weight and density of the unit in order to submerge it is workable, a simpler, less cumbersome, easy to use method of alternating from floating to sinking, and then back to floating is highly desirable.
The present invention provides a significant improvement in the simplicity, capability and ease of alternating between floating and sinking of the bait container for aquatic live baits.